# Charity trustee sentenced for lying

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2002/09/16/charity-trustee-sentenced-lying/
- Published: 2002-09-16T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

A bogus charity trustee was sentenced today at Bristol Magistrates Court to a community
punishment order of 160 hours work in the community. 
Richard Culverhouse of Bristol
was convicted of both

acting as a trustee while disqualified and for lying to the Charity Commission.

The Commission investigated the charity Wessex Welfare Bureau after Culverhouse 
had set himself up as a founding trustee in 2000. After an examination of the charity’s
registration documents, it became clear to Commission investigators that Culverhouse
had lied about his eligibility for trusteeship. Eevidence came to light that he 
was acting as a trustee despite an unspent criminal record.

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Acting as a charity trustee with an unspent conviction for dishonesty or theft and
lying to the Charity Commission are both illegal under the Charities Act 1993.

In passing sentence, Chair of the Magistrates, Mrs Janet Willis, said to Culverhouse:“
By your actions you caused others unwittingly to put you in a position of trust.”

Charity Commission Head of investigations in Taunton, Steve Grenfell, said: “There
are over one million unpaid trustees in this country doing vital work in the community
and charities simply couldn’t operate without them. It’s the importance of the role
that makes honesty and a clean record so vital.

“We welcome today’s sentence as a warning to anyone who would consider abusing the
unique position of trust and goodwill that charities hold in our society.”

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